AestheticDeath
05-22-2009, 12:32 AM
Probably too long for most of you to read or care about but -
A friend of mine moved into a new place and within the first week he started having trouble with his next door neighbor. Apparently the guy is a drug dealer, up at all hours, especially night time, cars coming and going every hour etc, they only stop for <5 minutes.
Fast forward, approximately two months, and after all sorts of stupid trouble like neighbor throwing nails in his driveway etc., his house gets broken into.
From all the things that went on with the neighbor we assumed correctly that he or his kid or both were the ones who did it. They got his large plasma TV, playstation and games, dvds, laundry basket and pillow cases full of junk, some of his expensive ammo, camcorder/laptop bags and accessories though not the actual camcorder and laptops.
From listening and watching the neighbors he heard one of the kids pop off and say that they had fucked that house up etc. After the house was broken into, the neighbor had a large van that had not been there before, coming and going a lot - supposedly trying to move the stuff they took. They started walking from their house to another house down a street, less then a block away. Few other people walking away with bags of stuff etc.
It was all reported to the cops they fingerprinted and whatnot. But they were really unable to do anything. They have to catch the guy outside his house to arrest him, and even though he drives his car all the time without a drivers license, they are not able to catch him for some reason.
SO, my friend decides he will not live next to this guy anymore, and after a lil over two months into a year long contract, he moves out. He just paid for the months rent like 8 days earlier. Had paid a $400? deposit.
He tells the guy who is renting out the place that he is moving, moves out in a day, and turns off the electricity since it was then in his name. He writes a certified letter to the guy asking for his deposit back(which I figured he would not get). The guy responds with something along the lines of my friend not getting the deposit, as well as owing $1062 or so for breaking the contract, and an extra months rent. Also, he got mad at my friend for turning off the electricity, because he needs it on to keep showing the house to rent it out again. Does the previous renter have ANY obligation to keep the electricity on?
Friend and his family swear the rental guy is going to sue my friend for the money.
I assume he won't, that he will just request it, and upon not receiving it, report him to the credit agencies and totally fuck his credit over.
A lawyer friend they talked to said something about that if the rental guy sues my friend, he will lose, and wind up owing my friend like 3x what he sues him over. Because of the problem neighbor, which the rental guy knew about but obviously didn't notify anyone of, and the break in etc. Is there any truth to that?
They wound up calling some friends in law enforcement and attained some past records back up to like Sept. of last year, with like 20 pages each for the house he rented and the troublesome neighbors house, all kinds of call ins reporting problems etc. Long ongoing problems every since that neighbor moved there.
So obviously my friend should have checked on the neighbors/neighborhood, before jumping in and signing a year long contract and whatnot. The rental guy, it seems to me, should have disclosed the troublesome neighbor.
I have still never been in any kind of rental or lease agreement, so I was wondering what kind of advice anyone might have along the lines of breaking the contracts, and what, if any reasons, could actually let you break without penalty.
If either party took this to court, is there a clear cut winner?
A friend of mine moved into a new place and within the first week he started having trouble with his next door neighbor. Apparently the guy is a drug dealer, up at all hours, especially night time, cars coming and going every hour etc, they only stop for <5 minutes.
Fast forward, approximately two months, and after all sorts of stupid trouble like neighbor throwing nails in his driveway etc., his house gets broken into.
From all the things that went on with the neighbor we assumed correctly that he or his kid or both were the ones who did it. They got his large plasma TV, playstation and games, dvds, laundry basket and pillow cases full of junk, some of his expensive ammo, camcorder/laptop bags and accessories though not the actual camcorder and laptops.
From listening and watching the neighbors he heard one of the kids pop off and say that they had fucked that house up etc. After the house was broken into, the neighbor had a large van that had not been there before, coming and going a lot - supposedly trying to move the stuff they took. They started walking from their house to another house down a street, less then a block away. Few other people walking away with bags of stuff etc.
It was all reported to the cops they fingerprinted and whatnot. But they were really unable to do anything. They have to catch the guy outside his house to arrest him, and even though he drives his car all the time without a drivers license, they are not able to catch him for some reason.
SO, my friend decides he will not live next to this guy anymore, and after a lil over two months into a year long contract, he moves out. He just paid for the months rent like 8 days earlier. Had paid a $400? deposit.
He tells the guy who is renting out the place that he is moving, moves out in a day, and turns off the electricity since it was then in his name. He writes a certified letter to the guy asking for his deposit back(which I figured he would not get). The guy responds with something along the lines of my friend not getting the deposit, as well as owing $1062 or so for breaking the contract, and an extra months rent. Also, he got mad at my friend for turning off the electricity, because he needs it on to keep showing the house to rent it out again. Does the previous renter have ANY obligation to keep the electricity on?
Friend and his family swear the rental guy is going to sue my friend for the money.
I assume he won't, that he will just request it, and upon not receiving it, report him to the credit agencies and totally fuck his credit over.
A lawyer friend they talked to said something about that if the rental guy sues my friend, he will lose, and wind up owing my friend like 3x what he sues him over. Because of the problem neighbor, which the rental guy knew about but obviously didn't notify anyone of, and the break in etc. Is there any truth to that?
They wound up calling some friends in law enforcement and attained some past records back up to like Sept. of last year, with like 20 pages each for the house he rented and the troublesome neighbors house, all kinds of call ins reporting problems etc. Long ongoing problems every since that neighbor moved there.
So obviously my friend should have checked on the neighbors/neighborhood, before jumping in and signing a year long contract and whatnot. The rental guy, it seems to me, should have disclosed the troublesome neighbor.
I have still never been in any kind of rental or lease agreement, so I was wondering what kind of advice anyone might have along the lines of breaking the contracts, and what, if any reasons, could actually let you break without penalty.
If either party took this to court, is there a clear cut winner?